Category Archives: Risks: damage, trauma, death

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A 6 day old male was circumcised uneventfully using the Plastibell technique in the pediatrician’s office. Two days later the patient developed penile shaft swelling and blistering accompanied by a temperature of 38.3 degree celsius.”

“Patients who request circumcision in the belief that it bestowsclinical benefits must be made aware of the lack of consensusand robust evidence, as well as the potential medical and psychosocialharms of the procedure. As the efficacy of prophylactic nontherapeuticmale circumcision has not been comprehensively studied in neonates,it would be inappropriate to recommend widespread neonatal circumcisionfor this purpose.”

In other words – there’s NO strong medical evidence to support cutting off part of a male’s healthy genitalia and therefore the procedure is NOT recommended for adults OR infants. The risks outweigh any perceived benefit – risks such as medical and psychosocial harm, among numerous other issues (even death).

The only reason it’s still being done is rooted more in cosmetics and cultural tradition – neither of which are sufficient reasons to harm an infant in this manner.

Utrecht, 27 May 2010 – The official standpoint of KNMG and other related medical/scientific organisations is that non-therapeutic circumcision of male minors is a violation of children’s rights to autonomy and physical integrity. KNMG is urging a strong policy of deterrence.

The reason for the adoption of an official standpoint regarding this matter is the increasing emphasis on the protection of children’s rights. Contrary to popular belief, circumcision can also cause complications – bleeding, infection, urethral stricture and panic attacks are particularly common. Full or partial penile amputations have also been reported as a consequence of complications.”

Of course it does. Amputation of any healthy tissue is not only traumatic, but completely unnecessary. Naturally it will cause harm – on more levels than the parents who decide to cut their child even realize.

“The study found that approximately 117 neonatal (first 28 days after birth) circumcision-related deaths occur annually in the United States, one out of every 77 male neonatal deaths. The study also identified reasons why accurate data on these deaths are not available, some of the obstacles to preventing these deaths, and some solutions to overcome them.

Previous studies estimated the death rate as low as two per year to as many as 230. The study collected data from hospital records and government sources to attempt to provide a more accurate magnitude of the problem.

To put this in perspective, about 44 neonatal boys die each year from suffocation, and 8 from auto accidents. About 115 neonatal boys die annually from SIDS, nearly the same as from circumcision.”

“To be intact, as nature intended, is best. The vast majority of males who are given the choice value their wholeness and keep their foreskins, for the same reason they keep their other organs of perception. Parents in Europe and non-Muslim Asia never have forced their boys to be circumcised. It would no more occur to them to cut off part of their boys’ penises than it would to cut off part of their ears. Respecting a child’s right to keep his genitals intact is normal and natural. It is conservative in the best sense of the word.

A circumcised father who has mixed feelings about his intact newborn son may require gentle, compassionate psychological counseling to help him come to terms with his loss and to overcome his anxieties about normal male genitalia. In such cases, the mother should steadfastly protect her child, inviting her husband to share this protective role and helping him diffuse his negative feelings. Most parents want what is best for their baby. Wise parents listen to their hearts and trust their instinct to protect their baby from harm. The experience of the ages has shown that babies thrive best in a trusting atmosphere of love, gentleness, respect, acceptance, nurturing, and intimacy. Cutting off a baby’s foreskin shatters this trust. Circumcision wounds and harms the baby and the person the baby will become. Parents who respect their son’s wholeness are bequeathing to him his birthright-his body, perfect and beautiful in its entirety.”

“The universal declaration of human rights state that every man, woman and child should have equal rights without discrimination (United Nations, 1948). These rights should have meaning within our everyday lives and aim to protect all people from injustice.”

“Strictly speaking, it is not the opponents of routine male circumcision who need to make a case against the procedure, but its supporters who must prove its necessity: they need to explain why a natural part of the human body, and one common to all primates, is so dangerous that it must be amputated before a baby can talk, crawl or do anything much except scream.”